Financial institutions in the United States are no strangers to privacy regulations, particularly given the obligations imposed by the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”) and the California Financial Information Privacy Act (“SB1”). More recently, financial institutions have been focused on whether and/or the extent to which the EU’s GDPR may apply to their U.S. operations. Many financial institutions,… Read More

On May 22, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 2155, the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act.” The bill was passed on a bipartisan basis with a vote of 258-159. The bill was previously passed by the U.S. Senate on March 14, 2018. Now that identical legislation has passed both houses… Read More

Yesterday, the Office of the South Carolina Attorney General issued a press release announcing that it has created a Money Services Division within the AG’s office and that, effective May 14, the Division is accepting applications for licensure under South Carolina’s money transmission law. This law, officially known as the South Carolina Anti-Money Laundering Act,… Read More

On March 14, 2018, the U.S. Senate passed S. 2155, the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act.” If enacted into law, S. 2155 would provide modest regulatory relief to regional and community banks, among other things. The bill passed the Senate with bipartisan support through a vote of 67 to 31. In this… Read More

On March 7, 2018, the staff of the Divisions of Enforcement and Trading and Markets of the SEC issued a public statement regarding exchanges and other secondary trading platforms that list and/or facilitate the trading of coins and tokens online. The statement emphasizes that platforms offering the trading of digital assets that are securities, including… Read More

The SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) has published its 2018 examination priorities. Not surprisingly, it will continue to focus on the protection of retail investors and ensuring that registrants are appropriately disclosing or resolving conflicts of interest. In addition, OCIE will pay particular attention to developments in cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs). OCIE… Read More

2017 in the UK and the rest of Europe seems to have been primarily a year devoted to implementation – both of political decisions already made and of legislation that had already been enacted. On the political front, Brexit continued to dominate many conversations around EU financial services. Theories circulated that EU decisions on various… Read More

On January 25, 2018, the CFPB finalized amendments to its final Prepaid Accounts Rule, which was published in November 2016. The Bureau stated that the 2018 Amendments finalize revisions proposed in June 2017 “generally as proposed, with certain modifications.” The 2018 Amendments address some of the issues raised by industry and delay the effective date… Read More

One of the defining aspects of the payments revolution of the past few years—at least from a regulatory perspective—has been the question of whether a particular payments service is subject to regulation as money transmission. A number of states have determined that under certain conditions, state money transmission licensing laws do not apply to services provided… Read More

An ILC, or industrial loan company, is a form of bank that can be chartered in Utah, Nevada, and a few other states. ILCs are insured by the FDIC and have most traditional banking powers, but they cannot hold corporate checking accounts. Significantly, an ILC is not a bank under the Bank Holding Company Act,… Read More

The U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury Department” or “Treasury”) issued its second report (of four reports), titled “A Financial System that Creates Economic Opportunities, Capital Markets” (the “Report”). The Report was issued in response to Presidential Order 137772 setting forth the Core Principles that should guide regulation of the U.S. financial system. The Report… Read More

On October 5, 2017, the CFPB released its final rule for short-term loans. The nearly 1,700 page rule appears to follow the proposed short-term lending rule with several notable changes. Most notably, the CFPB did not finalize rules relating to underwriting requirements for long-term loans that do not have balloon payments. Read our client alert.

On September 25, 2017, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika discussed online lending and innovation in his keynote remarks prepared for delivery to the Online Lending Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Consistent with his previous remarks, the Acting Comptroller expressed his support for a regulatory environment that fosters responsible innovation and touted the growth… Read More

Long a mainstay of the financial world, the floating “IBOR” rates, based on the rates of actual or purported interbank offered loans, are now being swept slowly into the dustbin of history. The quantity, in both number and size, of existing financial products based on these floating rates is enormous, with the outstanding principal amount… Read More

Section 13 of the Bank Holding Company Act (the “Volcker Rule”) and its implementing regulations (the “Implementing Regulations”) generally prohibit banking entities from engaging in proprietary trading and from investing in, sponsoring, or having certain relationships with covered funds. On August 2, 2017, the OCC submitted to the Federal Register a notice requesting public comment on how… Read More

As we have previously reported, in October 2015, the CFPB issued a sweeping final rule (“2015 Final Rule”) to amend Regulation C, which implements the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The bulk of the 2015 Final Rule will become effective on January 1, 2018. With the effective date drawing nearer, the CFPB has proposed an… Read More

In July 19, 2017 remarks prepared for delivery to the Exchequer Club in Washington, D.C., Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika expressed his support for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s efforts to establish national bank charters for financial technology companies. In endorsing the OCC’s so-called fintech charter, he noted that the… Read More

A mere nine days after releasing its Final Rule regarding arbitration to the public, the CFPB has published the Final Rule in the Federal Register. This is significant because publication in the Federal Register triggers the countdown to the Final Rule’s effective date (60 days after publication) and ultimately its application to new agreements (180 days… Read More

Ending months of speculation and insider reading of tea leaves, on July 10, 2017, the CFPB issued a final rule regarding the use of arbitration agreements in specified consumer financial contracts (Final Rule). The Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on July 19, 2017. As was substantively expected, the Final Rule: 1) bars… Read More

On July 7, 2017, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released its Semiannual Risk Perspective report identifying the risks faced by national banks and federal savings associations in the 12-month period ending December 31, 2016. The Report, which is intended to highlight key risk issues facing the federal banking system, noted that strategic, credit, operational… Read More

On June 15, 2017, the CFPB released proposed revisions to its final Prepaid Accounts Rule. The Final Rule was published in November 2016 and was subsequently amended to delay the general effective date by six months, to April 1, 2018. The CFPB is seeking comments on proposed revisions to the Final Rule, as well as… Read More

As required by the President’s Executive Order 13772 setting forth the core principles that should be taken into account in connection with the regulation of the U.S. financial system, the U.S. Treasury Department published a report identifying regulations inconsistent with the seven principles articulated in the order. The report is the first of series of… Read More

On June 7, 2017, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued frequently asked questions that supplement the OCC’s 2013 guidance entitled “Third-Party Relationships: Risk Management Guidance.” The 2013 Bulletin sets forth the OCC’s expectation for banks’ due diligence and ongoing monitoring of third-party service providers, including enhanced diligence and monitoring for third parties… Read More

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